


Perfectly You

by TiBun



Category: Marvel
Genre: 1940's slang, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, First Christmas, Holidays, M/M, One Shot, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, referenced Stony, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21714844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiBun/pseuds/TiBun
Summary: It's Clint and Bucky's first Christmas together, and Bucky has no idea what to expect when he comes home to their mostly-decorated tree, all he knows is that he absolutely loves his boyfriend.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	Perfectly You

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters, I only explore the possibilities

“Tree’s up.” Bucky said, sticking his head in the door to the bedroom where Clint was sitting cross-legged on the floor as he worked to replace the points, nocks, and fletchings as needed on various arrows. Piles of old and new parts were scattered around him, and a festive santa hat sat upon his head. Behind him, curled up and napping was Clint’s brown labrador retriever, Lucky; a green bow tied to his collar.

Clint blinked and looked up at his lover, “You could have called for me, I would have helped you bring it in.”

“Don’t worry about it, Steve helped set ours up. Next I’m headed over to help him with his before we head out to do some shopping.”

“You don’t want to stay and help me decorate the tree? I know Tony had all the trees sitting inside to let the branches settle before they got moved around.”

“Do we have stuff to decorate it?” Bucky asked with a frown, “I mean, I don’t have anything. This will be my first Christmas since the war…”

“I have a box of stuff.” Clint shrugged, “But we could always go out together to pick out some decorations together.”

“Then how about you start on decorating the tree and tomorrow we’ll make a date of it and go choose more together.” Bucky suggested.

“You sure you trust me to decorate? My trees the past few years haven’t exactly been traditional or, you know, the way they did things back in the forties. Less tinsel and more...me.”

“I adore you.” Bucky smiled and carefully stepped over the mess of arrow parts to bend down and kiss Clint’s lips. “As long as I don’t come home to find you sitting in the tree like an oversized bird, I’ll be happy.”

“Even if I stick some festive feathers in my hair?”

“Even with feathers.”

“Oh darn, back to the drawing board for a topper idea.” Clint joked, coaxing his lover into another kiss before letting him up again.

“We’ll get a topper tomorrow, Doll.” Bucky promised before scratching Lucky’s ears and standing to make his way out of the bedroom, “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Have fun, Babe. Oh, did you vacuum up the fallen needles? We need to keep on top of that so Lucky doesn’t eat any.”

Bucky paused in the doorway, “He’d do that? Is that bad?”

“Yes, it’s bad. They don’t digest quickly and are sharp. They can cause damage to dogs and cats.”

“I didn’t know that—I didn’t vacuum. Should I before Stevie and I head out?”

“Nah, I’ll lock Lucky in here while I vacuum and put the wire mesh around the base so he doesn't drink the tree water, either. You know, puppy-proof the place before letting him hang out with me.”

“The water?”

“Also bad for pets. Don’t worry, the mesh screen will be hidden by the tree skirt.”

“It seems I have a lot to learn about taking care of dogs in case you ever leave me on pet-sitting duty.”

“Maybe so, but for now just go enjoy time with your best friend.” Clint said, shooing the one-armed man out the door.

“Want me to bring anything back?”

“You could pick up a pizza for dinner.” Clint suggested and Lucky perked up happily, lifting his head and wagging his tail.

“Pizza, got it.” Bucky winked at his lover before turning and walking out, “Okay, Stevie, lets get your tree into your and Tony’s living area so we can get going.”

Clint watched as his lover left, a smile curling his lips before he sighed and started picking up his mess of arrow parts.

Once he was finished, he moved to the door and closed it before Lucky could bound after him. He then got the vacuum out and quickly got rid of all the fallen needles before going to the storage closet to dig out his box of Christmas decorations. He fit the mesh screen in place to block Lucky from drinking the tree water, covered it with the tree skirt, and then finally let Lucky out of the bedroom so the dog could freely move about.

“Okay, Lucky, time for the fun part.” Clint grinned, pulling a simple red bow out of the box.

“Ruff!” Lucky wagged his tail happily.

* * *

“Don’t worry so much about it, Buck, he’ll love it, you’ll see.” Steve encouraged as the two stepped into the elevator, arms full of shopping bags, and a pizza box balanced on Bucky’s metal hand.

“I don’t know, I just—I’ve only ever dated dames before, and even then it was a casual thing. This is my first time being rationed, and my first time dating a chap. I don’t know what type of gift is appropriate in this situation. I want it to show Clint how much I care—how much I love him—but I don’t want it to seem too feminine… He ain’t no broad, and I don’t want to treat him like he is.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. It’s not like you got him fancy earrings.” Steve chuckled, “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being with Tony, it’s the fact that knowing what your special someone would like means more than whether or not the gift is manly enough or whatever. I got Tony a children’s robot kit for his birthday; he loved it, though he made some personal ‘improvements’ to the design and function. Point was that I know Tony loves robotics and stuff like that, so that’s what I had gotten him...well, that, and a  _ nice  _ evening  _ in _ . But he loved everything about it!”

Steve cleared his throat and tried to ignore the flush that heated his cheeks at the memory of that evening. “The fact is, you know Clint better than most of us at this point, and you snatched up that gift you got him faster than I could blink. You saw it and knew he’d love it, so don’t go second-guessing yourself. Wrap it up in nice paper and string, let it sit under the tree, and then Christmas morning give it to him with a kiss.”

They stepped off the elevator and made their way along the hall lined with the apartments built in for members of the Avengers to live in if they wanted to live in Avengers Tower. Everyone had an apartment, or shared one, even if they had a home outside the tower.

“You really think so, Stevie?”

“I know so. You were always great with the ladies, being great with the man you’ve fallen in love with isn’t much different.” Steve stopped at the door to the apartment he shared with Tony, “Now go see if Clint’s still decorating before that pizza gets too cold.”

“Oh! Right! He’s probably hungry!” Bucky turned to hurry a few doors down, “Thanks, Steve, I never thought I’d go to you about dating advice but...you really helped.”

“No problem, Buck.” Steve chuckled before moving into his apartment.

Bucky smiled to himself as he shuffled bags around so he could open the door.

The apartment smelled of fresh pine and cinnamon when Bucky stepped inside, his ears met with music that didn’t sound like it was Christmas-y, but the lyrics suggested otherwise.

“Babydoll, I’m back. I have pizza.” he called out, moving over to the kitchenette to set the pizza down on the counter before turning around, intending to tuck his shopping bags away somewhere out of sight until he got the chance to wrap everything.

He froze, his gaze finally falling on the mostly-decorated tree. The white lights twinkled like stars, and there were a few ornaments hanging off the branches, however, the tree also looked like it had started a fight with Clint—and Clint had won. Arrows of red and green with silver and gold fletchings catching the twinkling lights from the tree stuck out of the branches every which way, a red bow tucked artfully in the branches near the bottom of the tree in a way that almost made it look like a short string of garland.

Lucky was barking and hopping around Bucky’s legs before he tore his eyes off the tree and turned to look at Clint who was walking out of the bedroom with a relaxed look.

“Pizza! Finally! I’m starved. Lucky and I worked hard, didn’t we, boy?” Clint said, hurrying barefoot across their main living space to the kitchen counter where the pizza sat.

“Did...did you get in a fight with the tree?” Bucky managed to ask.

“Hmm?” Clint looked up, already shoving a folded slice of pizza in his mouth with one hand as he reached up with the other for a plate. He put his slice on the plate and chewed his bite, swallowing before speaking, “I told you I don’t decorate trees traditionally.” he shrugged.

“Yes, but…” Bucky couldn’t help it as laughter suddenly bubbled up and spilled from his lips, “God, when you said you decorate your trees to be more  _ you _ , I had no clue to expect this, but I should have—it’s so  _ you _ .” He set down his shopping bags and moved over to the tree, looking closer at how the arrows were actually embedded in the branches, “You actually shot the tree…”

“Of course. It’s no fun if I just tuck them in like like children to bed. My silent nights have a ploing followed by a dull thunk.”

“God, I love you.” Bucky laughed, moving over to pull Clint into his arms, kissing his pizza-flavored lips.

“You actually like it?” Clint asked.

“Clint, it’s so  _ you _ . I  _ adore  _ it.” Bucky chuckled. “Best tree in all of New York.”

“It’ll be the best in the  _ world  _ once we get some of you mixed in.” Clint smiled.

“Something to represent Lucky, too.” Bucky suggested, “Then it’ll be perfect. Though for my touch, I don’t think I should attack the tree—it’d be more mess than anything else.”

Clint laughed, “Yeah, no punching our tree.” he agreed, kissing his lover once again.

* * *

-End-

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Happy Holidays!  
> This fic was inspired by the linked facebook post by some random person I do not know. But their post came across my dash and seeing it, I just knew that with a few changes, it'd be such a Clint thing to do to a Christmas Tree.  
> https://www.facebook.com/kelby.m.king/posts/10218030163964675


End file.
